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Joanna Pearl is a service development officer for Hounslow social services in London. She leads on departmental transport and quality assurance in learning difficulties services. As a social worker she developed an ongoing interest in working with people with dementia. She volunteers for a domestic violence helpline and is a workplace mediator.

Kiranjit and Alan*, social workers in a busy area team, have barely spoken since months of conflict culminated in a public, heated exchange. Kiranjit claims that Alan is not performing to standard. Alan feels victimised and bullied. Both are looking for other jobs and have had time off sick because of stress-related illness. Their manager feels unable to deal constructively with the complex issues that lie behind the conflict and is worried by the low morale that is starting to pervade the team. How can a conflict that has gone so far be resolved?

A month later, after much hard work, Kiranjit and Alan meet their two mediators. As the session progresses they gradually make eye contact. Alan describes his pressures as a newly qualified worker and the single parent of a disabled child. Kiranjit has a large caseload and heavy responsibilities as a new manager.

As they acknowledge their mutual anger and pain, they start to realise that they share concerns, goals and standards.

Denise July is one of 20 workplace mediators within the London Borough of Hounslow's fair treatment unit. She describes the epiphany when participants like Kiranjit and Alan start to show real insight, empathy and positive movement: "A mediator's job is challenging and sometimes energy-sapping, but those are really exciting moments and a privilege to witness."

July's role as workplace mediator is additional to her "day job" and required six days' intensive training and support. The unit's mediation service is a voluntary option to which individuals can self-refer.

It is a progressive approach to help individuals and teams avoid (where appropriate) formal grievance and disciplinary procedures. These ways of dealing with conflict can be disempowering and expensive, and often result in one party "winning" and the other "losing".
By contrast, mediation can result in a "win-win" for both participants. Mediators empower and support participants to resolve their own conflict, stressing confidentiality and a non-judgemental, non-blaming value base. It works between people at all levels. But it requires commitment and honesty; it is not the easy option.

There are good reasons for tackling conflicts. In their book Resolving Conflict,¹ Shay and Margaret McConnon highlight research that indicates that a typical manager loses 25 per cent of the day responding to unhelpful conflict. And they say: "Conflict is not inevitable simply because we are different. We can disagree and not be in conflict. Conflict is more to do with style than substance."

Even though social care professionals are often skilled in dealing with conflict encountered during their work with clients, and usually work in supportive teams, they are far from immune to it in their own relationships. We all deal with conflict differently, influenced by our upbringings.

Most people - social care professionals or not - find it is easy to get stuck in one "position" when facing someone else with a different view: we state what we want and refuse to budge. Often we cannot establish "facts". Views become entrenched and conflict escalates.

Mediation asks "why" to get to the real motivating factors - our interests or needs. The basic counselling skills at the core of mediation are active non-judgemental listening, showing empathy, and positive "reframing". A mediator uses these skills in a structured way to facilitate dialogue, analysing participants' key issues, areas of agreement and differences. People feel heard and can then start to hear the other person.

Mediation skills can help with reframing conflict when dealing with our clients, our colleagues and even our families. A mediator might re-frame a disputant's statement: "I can't work with someone who makes the office such a disgusting mess" as "It's important for you to have an organised and tidy workplace", in order to remove the blame and move things forward.


So, how do we make our workplaces mediation-friendly? Perhaps mediation skills training should be part of an induction process for every new manager. We could put conflict on the agenda as an organisational training and development issue. Or perhaps we can simply start by acknowledging the key role that difference and diversity play in workplace relationships.

David Liddle, director of mediation organisation Total Conflict Management, says the skills underpinning mediation are "applicable throughout public sector organisations. From teaching young people the skills to address conflicts with non-violent communication to helping elected councillors understand and communicate with their constituents. Mediation is definitely not just about troubleshooting."

Kiranjit and Alan's final agreement accepted that they would never be friends, but through mediation they set ground rules to use in their future professional relationship. They have moved from ideas of blame and punishment to realistic expectations. They will inevitably experience conflict again, but now have the tools to deal with it.

* Kiranjit and Alan are a fictional case study based on real examples of mediation in action

Steps in the mediation process

1. Referral - both potential participants must agree to this. Their case is assessed for mediation suitability.

2. Introductory meeting - each participant has a separate introductory meeting with their two independent mediators, to clarify the process, the history of the conflict and possible future expectations.

3. Indirect mediation - each participant has one (sometimes two) separate meeting/s with the two mediators. The mediators start to facilitate safe sharing of information between participants, explore issues in more detail, and encourage participants to listen to the other's perspective.

4. Direct mediation - the mediators bring the participants together for one or two structured meetings. Participants can talk and be heard, discuss concerns and issues, and develop options for future working and a shared "memorandum of understanding" (future action plan).

Adapted from The Mediation Handbook by Total Conflict Management

Abstract

Social care professionals often possess mediation skills and use them effectively with clients, but are not immune to demoralising workplace conflict. In fact, research suggests managers spend up to a quarter of their time dealing with conflict within their teams. This article describes the positive use of mediation to resolve conflict in the workplace, thereby avoiding formal disciplinary and grievance procedures.

References

¹ S and M McConnon, Resolving Conflict, How To, 2002

Further information

• R Fisher and W Ury, Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In, Penguin, 1991
• J Beer and E Stief, The Mediator's Handbook, New Society, 1997
• To contact Total Conflict Management, go to: www.tcmsolutions.co.uk

Contact the author

Contact Joanna Pearl at: Joanna.pearl@hounslow.gov.uk